{"id":3693,"date":"2016-05-23T11:51:33","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T06:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3693"},"modified":"2016-05-23T11:51:33","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T06:21:33","slug":"the-princess-switch-netflix-love-actually-the-christmas-prince","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3693","title":{"rendered":"Thanks for The Princess Switch, Netflix. But I\u2019d Rather Watch Love Actually"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\u00a0\n

I<\/span>\u2019m not Christian, but when <\/p>Christmas <\/span><\/a>is around the corner, I put a stocking out just in case Santa wants to visit me. (So what if I\u2019m 25?) <\/span>\n\nBut \u2019tis the season to be jolly and everyone\u2019s happy, unless you\u2019re the Grinch. Schools and colleges shut down, families get together, ZARA is on sale, <\/span>New Year resolutions<\/span><\/a> are made, your office HR cannot stop you from taking week-long leaves, and most importantly, cheesy holiday movies make it to your must-watch list. \u00a0<\/span>\n\nI\u2019m obviously not talking about Farah Khan\u2019s <\/span>Happy New Year.<\/span><\/i> I\u2019m talking about the evergreen <\/span>movies <\/span><\/a>that we watch every year as December approaches, snuggling under a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate by our side. Films that reflect all the good in the world, that make us feel warm and fuzzy \u2013 <\/span>Home Alone<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>The Holiday<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Jingle All The Way,<\/span><\/i> and maybe <\/span>A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>\n\nHoliday films are to me what <\/span>Tom and Jerry<\/span><\/i> is to children \u2013 you never can get enough of them. And every December, I look for new films to add to my favourites. So when <\/span>Netflix <\/span><\/a>released two holiday season films last week \u2013 <\/span>The Princess Switch<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>A Christmas Prince <\/span><\/i>\u2013<\/span> I was overjoyed. For the last couple of years, the streaming giant seems to be getting nothing wrong. Netflix has made comedies, crime thrillers, big-budget spectacles; it has pushed the envelope with indie films, and backed the rom-com genre with <\/span>Set It Up <\/span><\/i>when <\/span>Hollywood <\/span><\/a>had given up on it. How hard could it then be for Netflix to redefine holiday season films?<\/span>\n\nWith that in mind, I sat down with my extra hot chocolate, set the temperature on the air-conditioner to 16 degrees to manufacture the feel of <\/span>winter<\/span><\/a>, and was all set to be transported to the streets of Bucharest, New York, or whichever pretty snow-laden city I was supposed to fantasise about. But after sitting through the two films, I felt like the Grinch stole my early Christmas: The Netflix holiday films were as pedestrian as they come.<\/span>\n\n

After my gloomiest binge ever, I wondered why Netflix \u2013 which is clearly planning to kill theatre-viewing and is on the verge of world domination \u2013 would churn out films even worse than the ones we see on the big screen?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nIn <\/span>The Princess Switch<\/span><\/i> \u2013 which premiered last week \u2013 a young baker from the streets of Chicago (but shot in Romania) ends up at a baking competition in the fictional city of Belgravia (also shot in Romania). There, she bumps into Princess Margaret Delacourt, future bride of Belgravia\u2019s Crown Prince, who is also her doppleganger. That\u2019s right. It\u2019s the grown-up version of <\/span>Parent Trap<\/span><\/i>. Of course, the two women, who look identical, end up switching places for the most absurd reason and herald a star-crossed <\/span>romance <\/span><\/a>that sets up 90 minutes of this holiday film. I wouldn\u2019t have minded seeing a commoner stumble upon her life as a princess (<\/span>Princess Diaries<\/span><\/i>, anyone?) if the film weren\u2019t so lazy. <\/span>\n\nI was disappointed but as someone who believes in the Christmas miracle, I did not give up. Instead I switched to <\/span>A Christmas Prince<\/span><\/i> \u2013 it doesn\u2019t fare any better. Based in the fictional city of Aldovia (Romania, once again), the film revolves around a young <\/span>journalist <\/span><\/a>who ends up bumping into the Crown Prince of Aldovia at a press conference and is then mistaken for somebody she isn\u2019t. Wait a second, where have we heard that plot before? It\u2019s almost as if the Netflix team decided to stream two films with identical plots just to get extra credits for their school project. <\/span>\n<\/span>\n<\/span>After my gloomiest <\/span>binge <\/span><\/a>ever, I wondered why Netflix \u2013 which is clearly planning to kill theatre-viewing and is on the verge of world domination \u2013 would churn out films even worse than the ones we see on the big screen? The plots of these films were so drab that I made a drinking game out of <\/span>guessing what\u2019s going to unfold on the screen next. <\/span>\n\nI get that Christmas and holiday films tend to mimic each other; there are only so many ways in which you can capture the same holiday spirit. <\/span>And the guilty pleasure you derive out of all of them isn\u2019t that different either. <\/span>But I don’t remember the last time I dozed off while watching a film that was supposed to transport me to a land of castle tops piled high with snow and princesses in shimmery gowns. Or started <\/span>daydreaming <\/span><\/a>while trying to figure out if Aldovia sounds better than Genovia or not. That\u2019s not how I planned to start the chhutti season.<\/span>\n\nHow is it that the same creators who comfortably spit out hours of nail-biting shows have failed miserably at spreading some good old holiday cheer? I get that Netflix is trying to reel in the masses with their <\/span>rom-coms<\/span><\/a> and generic buddy film offerings. And I\u2019m all for it. But if it\u2019s going to peddle weird ideas <\/span>\u2013 like normalising catfishing in <\/span>Sierra Burgess Is A Loser <\/span><\/i>\u2013 and holiday films that audiences would have rejected back in the \u201990s, is Netflix really making a dent? <\/span>\n\nI can\u2019t help but think that these films exist not because they add any value to anyone, but only as a formality \u2013 to merely tick off a production house\u2019s <\/span>checklist<\/span><\/a>. Now please excuse me while I go watch <\/span>Love Actually<\/span><\/i> for the 56th time<\/span>.<\/span><\/i>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Holiday films are to me what Tom and Jerry is to children, so I was overjoyed when Netflix released two holiday season films last week \u2013 The Princess Switch and A Christmas Prince. They\u2019re my gloomiest holiday binge ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":3694,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[6938,5418,1236,546,6939,1219,6940,1341,6941],"class_list":["post-3693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-a-christmas-prince","tag-binge-watch","tag-christmas","tag-films","tag-grinch","tag-holiday","tag-love-actually","tag-netflix","tag-the-princess-switch"],"yoast_head":"\nThanks for The Princess Switch, Netflix. 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